


A Bittersweet Life

by imgilmoregirl



Series: Bittersweet Verse [3]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Flickets, Fluff, Remembering Baelfire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 20:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14601102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgilmoregirl/pseuds/imgilmoregirl
Summary: A series of flickets about Gold and Lacey's family after the Bittersweet events.





	A Bittersweet Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Goldenspinner1953](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldenspinner1953/gifts).



> Hello, I'm back with this verse! I was actually holding this first flicket because I wanted to post it in honour of the event Remembering Baelfire as he had always been one of my favorite characters to write. I have two more prompts to fill for now, but you can send me more, if you want to! I hope you guys like to get an update on Gold's life.
> 
> Goldenspinner1953 prompted: a teenage Bae rebelling a bit and Lacey understanding him too.

"Shit," Baden Gold cursed as he sat up on the bed, seeing Lacey cross the station with a deadly look on her face that was directed to him. "Oh shit, I'm dead."

He had never gotten himself into such big problems before. Bae was usually a nice boy, he had always been, but lately he had been showing off a quite petulant side of himself that was driving his parents mad. However, from all things he ever said and from all times he did small rebellious things like skipping class and refusing to wash the dishes, this one situation was the most disastrous he could have found himself into.

"What is the matter?" Asked Emma, who was laid on the bed in the cell next to his.

She had an arm covering her eyes, the lights of the Sheriff station making her hangover headache increase. Bae sighed, standing up and holding the metal bars as he watched Lacey Gold talking to Graham Humbert. It appeared that his phone call had just taken her from bed, she wore an oversized cardigan over a crumpled dress and her hair was pulled up in a ponytail, not something you would see her wearing every day. Her daily impeccable look had been forgotten in the hurry to discover in which kind of trouble hr stepson had got himself into.

"It's my mom," Bae breathed, eyes fixed in her, already anticipating the reprimand he knew would come.

"Your real mom?" Emma inquired in a languid voice, clearly still affected by their early drinking.

 _"This_ is how drunk you are," said Regina, who were two cells ahead from him, sat on the floor, leaning against the wall in resignation, knowing that she too was in big trouble with her mom. "Do you believe disappointing-Milah would travel all the way from Ireland to here now from all moments?"

"Don't speak so loud, my head hurts," the blonde complained.

Sighing, Baden pressed his forehead against the cold bars. He didn’t want to hear anything about Milah, she was the reason why he was there tonight being a great deception for the only mother he had ever truly had, or well, at least her stupid text message was. Bae watched as she nodded to Graham, finally turning around to look back at him again and oh, she looked really angry.

"Baden Neal Gold," Lacey said slowly, taking hard steps towards his cell as Graham picked up the key to open it and allow him to get out, but as soon as he stepped free, she smacked his arm with all the strength she had and he shrunk a little. "What were you thinking?"

"Sorry?"

"You better be," she snorted. "To the car, now!"

He nodded, not daring to look at her eyes. Baden felt ashamed for being found in the Sheriff station, for being caught drunk with his girlfriend and their friend, using fake IDs to have some illegal fun at a bar. A pity Emma was too overwhelmed by the possibility of getting sometime away from her restraining parents that she didn’t mind trying to find out if Graham was going his usual inspection around town.

"Mom is going to come and get me to the car too?" The blonde asked the sheriff, peeking a look at him over her arm.

"No," Graham answered, folding his arms. "Your father said you should spend the night here just so you learn your lesson."

"I hate my life," she whined.

At fifteen years old, Baden knew he could have done worse things. Most of the guys in school did, but he had never wanted to disappoint his parents. His dad was the nicest person in the universe, a dork with a camera, the family used to joke ever since he both his first polaroid one and became obsessed with taking pictures of everybody. His mom – Lacey, not Milah – was just funny, kind and comprehensive, although she was also a very firm parent. He loved them very much and he hated when they got frustrated with him.

Following Lacey outside, he thought he felt thankful for his father being off town, as his disappointed face he couldn’t take now. Lacey’s angry one was enough. A gush of wind hit him when they reached the parking lot and Bae felt his stomach twist, making him stop walking and curve himself to empty its contents on a bush.

"Bae," Lacey rushed to his side, petting his back as he wiped the corners of his mouth.

"Sorry, mom."

"It's ok," she guaranteed. "Breath in and breath out, it will help a little."

This hangover was getting worse at each passing second. She passed an arm around his waist and helped him continue walking, knowing his mind was a bit foggy from the drinking, which also made it difficult for him to distinguish the woman who came from a fancy red car, all dressed up in fancy clothes with her make up done perfectly.

"Mrs. Gold," Cora greeted Lacey.

"Ms. Mills," she answered in a cold tone, taking Bae directly to her blue car without even casting a second glare at the woman.

He opened the door and slid to the passenger’s seat, noticing that his little sister, Sarah was sleeping on the back, her light-brown curls covering half of her face in disarray. She was ten and something between the most annoying person he had ever known in the world and the sweetest one, but then Bae guessed that a friendship between a kid and a teenager could never be easy.

Lacey entered the car, but unlike he thought that she would do, she didn’t start to drive straight away, she just sat there, hands crossed above her six months pregnant belly and stared at the station in front of them. He waited and waited, until he couldn’t take any more silence and sighed loudly, turning around to look at her face.

“I screwed up, I know it, now can you just tell me long will I be grounded and take me home?”

“Why?” Lacey inquired, glancing at him with her bright blue eyes shining with empathy.

“Why?” Bae repeated without understanding her question.

She reached out a hand, touching his arm and giving him a half-smile. In that moment she looked as young as she had been when she first entered their house to meet him. Nobody could tell that Lacey would become the now-a-days Lacey, responsible and affectional. His father used to say, that she hadn’t changed as much as people though she did, she was still most complicated woman in the universe for him, but she was much better at showing her feelings and making compromises, which had been her biggest struggle in the past.

“Why did you do this?” She asked. “This is not like you, Bae, even when you’re in your worse days.”

“I know,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have done any of this, I knew it was wrong, but Regina showed up with the fake IDs and I… I just didn’t want to be myself for a while, so that’s what I did.”

Lacey shook her head, stroking his hair.

“There is nothing wrong with who you are, Bae. You have a good life, cool friends and a family that loves you very much,” she listed. “You can keep making fun of me and papa because of little Gideon if that makes you feel better.”

“Thanks mom, I’m not quite done with it,” he chuckled. “But I think not my whole family loves me the whole much you do.”

“Was Sarah mean to you again?”

“No, she had been quite peaceful lately.”

Instead of explaining the whole thing to her, Baden thought it was better to show Lacey what exactly he was talking about. Of course, everybody knew his birth mom was a mere piece of shit, but Bae sometimes still had faith she could change and as always, he was let down. He needed to learn not to trust Milah for anything as he barely saw her ever since he was five, but God, she was meant to care more for him than she truly did. Why the hell couldn’t she be a bit more like Lacey for a change?

With a snort, he took his phone out of his pocket, located the text he was looking for and handed it to Lacey, who accepted it with an arched eyebrow.

**_I received your father’s invite for the birthday party. Sorry, I can’t come, but you should know travelling from Ireland to the freaking United States are pretty expensive._ **

“Bitch,” Lacey cursed. “I’m sorry, Bae… I’m really sorry. I wish she was better for you, but Milah is lost.”

“I know.”

“Look,” she started, giving the phone back to him. “I had a shitty father too, I know how it is. I’ve lost myself once, Bae and I wouldn’t want the same to happen with you. They are not worth it, we need to fight for ourselves, because we can do better, we can be what they weren’t… Well, at least I think I did a reasonable job as a mom.”

“You did a brilliant job,” he smiled. “You still do.”

A smile took Lacey’s lips too as she reached for her keys, finally ready to start to drive. She quickly glanced at the backseat to make sure that Sarah was still deep asleep, before turning back to Bae.

“Good, because you’re grounded.”

“Oh, I knew this small talk was leading up to this.”

“You know me very well, son,” she laughed. “And be aware that your father is going to know about this.”

“Yes, _mom_.”

She started to drive and although Baden was starting to feel the beginning of a headache, he kept that wide smile on his face, because even though Milah’s message and her lack of affection would always hurt him, he was glad he had he most amazing stepmother and that he could call her mom for all the times he didn’t do it with his real one.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! These flickets are not beign beta-ed, so forgive me for any typos.  
> Share your thoughts about this fic with me, if you want to!


End file.
